The Team Is Together Again

[kabukiman]

Thanks!

[Laraqua]

The air clears as the memories are whipped away and everything feels ... lighter. It's as though some terrible weight has been lifted from the world but in doing so there has been a great loss left in its place. A pervasive emptiness settles over them. A sensation that all that were and is and will be has been somehow weakened, somehow lost. The room they stand in is unchanged but the pervasive sense of misery coming from the chute seems to have died as well. Perhaps now those children, those sacrifices have finally been allowed to move on.

Yet nothing feels reset.

This basement still exists. The cold, damp air still feels as it does. The world feels so quiet. Is it just because they are so far underground? Has everything reset up there, out of sight of the four brave souls who have managed to do this?

They can see Ronald in the torchlight, gazing down at the chains and wicked looking spikes that had plucked loose so many children's eyes. He holds the puppet limp in his hand, a look of misery etched upon his face. His limbs tremble a little and he is largely unresponsive to the others, though whether it is because his own mind has been ripped away or because he is lost in thought is hard to say.

[kabukiman]

-Do you think... that the world is saved now?
Agnes takes Ronald gently by his arm and try to return to the exit.

[Mr. Handy]

"Yes, the world is saved," says Lionel. "I don't know if things are back the way they were. We'll have to go back topside to find out."

"So I didn't mess things up worse?" says Sarah, drying her eyes.

"Far from it, Sarah. You did great. I'm so proud of you - of all of you."

"Thank you, Daddy." She puts an arm around Ronald's shoulders and helps Agnes guide him to the exit. "We did it, Ronald," she says in a soothing tone. "We saved the world, and now the children are finally at peace. Nobody will ever suffer that horror again. We have our whole lives ahead of us now. Let's go back the way we came and get out of this horrid place. Maybe the ash is gone now, and we'll be able to see the sun. And we can look for the rest of our friends."

"Yes," added Lionel, following close behind. "They may still be in the helicopter. I didn't have time to look, as I had to run to rescue you right after I woke up."

"Dahlia, Cael, Jill, Charlie, Annie, Aidan...maybe we'll even find Brianna. Is it too much to hope for?" She doesn't mention Louie to keep from setting Ronald back, but she cannot help but feel sympathy for him. He had frightened and betrayed Brianna, but in the end he hadn't been able to harm her. I frightened her too, she thinks. And I got her shot. I can't condemn him, when I'm no better. She was able to forgive me, but not him.

[kabukiman]

-Let's see then what is left of the world.
"A dead world would be as bad as no world"- she thinks but doesn't say.

[Laraqua]

There is no sunlight in the world beyond. No bright lights streaming through the windows but after a few terrifying moments as they approach the windows they soon see stars splashed across the skies. The world outside is as bright as London can ever be with its lights out and after dark. They can see a few headlights still on in the streets beyond, the batteries not yet dead, but the world is terribly quiet. There is no sound of horns or engines or bird song. There's no laughter or shouts or even screams. There's just the quiet and the dark and out in the car park there is the wreckage of the helicopter. It's a wonder anyone made it out alive from that. The metal is tortured and twisted and there's blood and gore from at least one person who died within it, though there's no sign of any bodies.

(OOC: Spot Hidden checks)

[Mr. Handy]

Sarah begins to cry, overwhelmed by emotion. Seeing the stars again fills her with relief, as it means the ash is gone. But the smashed and bloody helicopter means that people she loves are likely dead within. Then she sees something through the curtain of her tears. However, it escapes Lionel's notice.

[kabukiman]

Agnes is too shocked to pay any attention. This is the London of the future. But a twisted and deformed version. What would it be it's normal version?


http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4792808/

[Laraqua]

Though the land is sheathed in darkness and even the sky seems unusually devoid of stars, and though the ground itself is shrouded in ash that no longer floats in an unfelt breeze, there is one small sign of hope. Something that is almost missed, yet catches the edge of the torchlight. A pair of small indentations move from near the helicopter and out across the dusty streets. A sign that causes Ronald to clap his hands in shocked joyfulness when he sees them. He whoops, and clutches his hand puppet to his chest, and then grabs Nurse Sarah by the shoulders and forces her to dance around with him as his cheers fill the still night air.

A pair of child sized feet, still in shoes, is the only thing that could make such tracks across the now fallen and still ashen covers.

Somewhere out there, a little girl awaits.

[Mr. Handy]

"She's alive!" cheers Sarah, happily joining in the dance. "Dahlia's alive! Or Brianna! Or both!"

"Before we set off after her, we'd best check the helicopter," says Lionel, beaming with joy and relief. "Some of us survived, and someone else could be unconscious in there. And I think we'll also need the three seals that Annie had."

"You're right, let's make it quick, though. Best I do the checking, Daddy. In your condition, you probably shouldn't see what's in there. Neither should I, but somebody has to." She girds herself and takes a look inside the chopper.

[kabukiman]

-I'l go with you, just to be sure there isn't any nasty surprise.

[Laraqua]

The three seals lie shattered within the wreckage, yet not due to the wreckage. It seems as though something had almost spitefully reached in and destroyed them, leaving them in pieces. It makes sense. The entities were released and have left this barren world. The greater entity had scoured the minds of the living, broken them apart into ash, and seemingly used those ashen motes to seek out the trapped entity. Now that the trapped entity had been released, both have no interest in this place, and there is nothing left to seal.

There's no sign of anyone else in the chopper. No bodies. Nothing. Not even blood. But there is some equipment that can be gathered. Flashlights and the like. Things to help keep them alive. Though, in truth, in this barren world if the creatures conjured by those twin entities have truly been put to rest, there shouldn't be much risk. Not now. Not from those creatures.

Trees still stand so plants can provide nutrients and air, though there are no sounds of animals who could conceivably have shared in humanity's fate. Perhaps some rats and insects, pets trapped in houses, and creatures locked out of reach of the ash that choked the world. How the Earth might react to this? How they, themselves, might survive, is unknown.

But there's bound to be more humans. More like them. A bare handful here and there across London and other parts of the globe. They could join together, rebuild. All they need is to cobble together five hundred souls and they have all the resources of a dead London to create for themselves. Perhaps they can find Brianna and Dahlia, whose footprints provide a telling lead. Perhaps they can even find some of the others who have disappeared and dropped away.

But for now, it's just the four of them.

Four of them in a gloomy dead world.

WELCOME TO THE END TIMES.

[Mr. Handy]

"There's nobody inside," says Sarah. "Maybe they're still alive!" Lionel joins her, and they quickly salvage the torches and anything else portable that might be of use from the wrecked helicopter. "Let's not wait any longer. We need to find the girls." She leads the way in following the footprints, and her father follows her.

"Yes, they must be so lonely and frightened," says Lionel. "It will be difficult living in this world, but at least we'll all have each other."

[kabukiman]

-So, I'm trapped here. In this dead world. At least I'm alive- she says with a faint smile.
-Let's go then find other living.

[Laraqua]

And with that, the four survivors moved out into the dead world, where so much of what they had known had been turned to ash. But at least they were alive. And perhaps, just perhaps, those they sought would be as well.

THE END.